The National Museum of Ireland

     What can you do when the weather is so bad you wouldn't put a milk bottle out in it?  You can go to the museum.  I had two favorite displays at the National Museum of Ireland - the bog bodies (kind of gruesome) and the gold (I love shiny things).

The National Museum of Ireland
The museum is free (€5 donation suggested).

     We saw four bog bodies, but I photographed only two of them.  Peat bogs preserve flesh because of the high acid content of the water, low water temperature, and lack of oxygen.  These factors preserve the skin and organs, but dissolve the bones.  That's why these guys look like zombie handbags.  Read more about bog bodies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_body

This guy is from the Iron Age which makes him more than 2,000 years old.  He was the most intact.  He had smooth hands and clean, manicured fingernails, a sign of living a pampered life.  

This is Clonycaven Man.  His top half was found in a peat harvesting machine.  The whereabouts of his bottom half is unknown.  Some people believe he was a king who was ritually sacrificed.  Others believe he was a murder victim.  The most interesting thing about him is his hairstyle.  The front of his hairline was shaved short.  The rest of his hair was long and done up in a top knot.  He used hair gel made of plant oil and pine resin to hold the hair in place.  This hair gel would have been imported from France or Spain, so he must have been wealthy.

This is a reconstruction of Clonycaven Man with his unique hair style.  Since he was only about 5' 2" tall, he might have piled his hair high to gain some height.

Ireland has one of the largest collections of prehistoric gold in western Europe.  The things that look like cabinet pulls are dress fasteners.  I'm glad someone invented buttons and zippers.

These earrings date to 1200-1000 B.C.  Have styles really changed much?

These disks are ear spools.  The ear lobe was pieced and bigger and bigger spools were inserted until the earlobe was stretched to the desired size.  Kids who stretch out their earlobes these day probably don't realize this practice has been going on since 2,000 B.C.

This gold boat with seats, masts, and oars was probably a sacrifice to the gods.  It was tradition to throw things of value into the water to please the higher powers.  This was my favorite piece in the gold exhibit.